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40 Years of American Film Comedy to Be Shown

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40 Years of American Film Comedy to Be Shown 40n8 - 4?' THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART tl WEST 53RD STREET, NEW YORK •fgLEPHONE: CIRCLE 5-8900 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FORTY YEARS OF AMERICAN FIM COMEDY FROM FLORA FINCH AND JOHN BUNNY TO CHAPLIN, FIELDS, BENCHLEY AND THE MARX BROTHERS TO BE SHOWN AT THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART That movies are the proper study of mankind has been estab­ lished at the Museum of Modern Art, where eight comprehensive series and four smaller groups of the outstanding films through which the great popular art of the cinema has evolved since 1895, have already been shown to Museum visitors. The Museum now announces a new series of fifteen programs in the art of the motion picture under the general title: Forty Years of American Film Comedy, Part i; Beginning Thursday, August 1, the series will be presented dally at 4 P.M. and on Sundays at 3 P.M. and 4 P.M. in the Museum1s auditorium at 11 West 53 Street. Instruction will thus be provided from the screen by Professors Mack Sennett, Frank Capra, W. C. Fields, Harpo and Groucho Marx, Robert Benchley and Charlie Chaplin in a new appraisal of screen comedy reviewed in the light of history. "It is very evident," states Iris Barry, Curator of the Museum's Film Library, "that the great farce-comedies, as well as the cowboy and gangster films, rank among this country1s most original contributions to the screen. We are grateful indeed to the film industry for cooperating with the Museum in providing this unique opportunity for tracing screen comedy to its sources in this group of classics now restored to view for the amateurs of the twentieth century's liveliest art. Most of these films are superbly irrational; they defy alike the laws of gravity and of probability. But all of them ac­ cidentally reflect the changing tastes, fads, fashions and attitudes of their time. In this respect these comedies are valuable to sociologists as well as to the Innumerable students of this vital art of the film." The fifteen new programs which begin with Frank Capra1s six- year-old It Happened One Night and include the same director's first feature length picture, The Strong Man (1926), will be shown in reverse chronological order through four decades back to the- days of John Bunny and Flora Finch. The early work of Chaplin will be shown m three special programs made up from nine shorts produced between 1914 and 1916, The comedy series will include examples of the almost mythical films of Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Drew as well as of John Bunny and Flora Finch. These have been seen only as fragments, if at all, for many years past. Here also will be shown the best work of Harold Lloyd and of Buster Keaton, brief talkies with W. C. Fields and Robert Benchley, satirical farce with Clara Kimball Young, the sheer madness of the Marx brothers, a rollicking Douglas Fairbanks' comedy not included in the Museum' s recent revival of tho great actor's features and, of course, a sroup of the famous Keystone films with Mack Sennett and his troupe of grotesque comedians not omitting, naturally, a generous ration of bathing beauties and Keystone cops. "These comedies are being presented," said Miss Barry, "not because they are old or quaint but because they are ex­ cellent and important. Their pace and their basically comic situations are as fresh and effective now as when they were made. We consider them eminently worthy of museum preserva­ tion and have prepared new prints of all films in the series. They will be given in their entirety—save in rare cases where the original negatives no longer exist." The series, beginning Thursday, August 1, will continue through September 30. The programs will be shown as follows: The Art of the Motion Picture Series IX: FORTY YEARS OF AMERICAN FILM COMEDY, Part I Aug. 1, 16, 31, Sept. 15, 30 IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, 1934, directed by Frank Capra, with Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable (Columbia Pictures) Aug. 3, 17, Sept. 1, 16 DUCK SOUP, 1933, directed by Leo McCarey, with Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo Marx (Paramount Pictures) THE BARBER SHOP, 1933, directed by Arthur Ripley, with W. C. Fields (Paramount Pictures) -3- AUS< 3. 18. Sept. 2, 17 SEX LIFE OF THE POLYP, 1928, with Robert Benchley (Twentieth Century- Fox Films) BLONDE CRAZY, 1931, directed by Roy del Ruth, with James Cagney and Joan Blondell (Warner Bros.) Aug. 4, 19, Sept. 3, 18 THE GENERAL, 1927, directed by and featuring Buster Keaton (Harvard University Film Foundation) Aug. 5i 20, Sept. 4, 19 WEDDING BILLS, 1927, directed by Erie Kenton, with Raymond Griffith (Harvard University Film Foundation) Aug. 6, 21, Sept. 5, 20 THE STRONG MAN, 1926, directed by Frank Capra, with Harry Langdon (Harvard University Film Foundation) THE PROFESSIONAL PATIENT, 1917, with Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Drew (Warner Bros.) Aug. 7. 22, Sept. 6. 21 THE FRESHMAN, 1925, directed by Sam Taylor and Fred Newmeyer, with Harold Lloyd (Mr. Harold Lloyd) HIGH AND DIZZY, 1920. with Harold Lloyd and Mildred Davis (Mr* Harold Lloya) Aug. 8. 23, Sept. 7, 22 GRANDMA1 S BOY, 1922, directed by Fred Newmeyer, with Harold Lloyd (Mr. Harold Lloyd) SHERLOCK JR., directed by and featuring Buster Keaton (Loew's) Aug. 9. 24, Sept, 8, 23 DOUBLING FOR ROMEO, 1921, directed by Clarence Badger, with Will Rogers and Raymond Hatton (Loew!s) GOODNESS GRACIOUS, 1914, with Clara Kimball Young and Sidney Drew (Warner Bros.) Aug. 10, 25. Sept. 9, 24 HIS MAJESTY THE AMERICAN, 1919, directed by Joseph Henabery, with Douglas Fairbanks (Mr. Douglas Fairbanks) Aug. 11, 26, Sept. 10, 25 FIVE COMEDIES BY MACK SENNETT: COMRADES (1910) MABEL1S DRAMATIC CAREER (1913) THE SURF GIRL (1916) HIS BREAD AND BUTTER (1916) ASTRAY FROM THE STEERAGE (192S) Aug. 12, 27, Sept. 11, 26 MICKEY, 1918, with Mabel Normand, directed by Richard Jones for the Mack Sennett Studios STENOGRAPHER WANTED, c.1910, with Flora Finch and John Bunny (Warner Bros.) Aug. 13, 28, Sept, 12, 27 CHARLIE CHAPLIN: FIVE KEYSTONE COMEDIES, 1914 s MAKING A LIVING THE KNOCK-OUT HIS NEW PROFESSION THE ROUNDERS GETTING ACQUAINTED Aug. 14, 29, Sept. 13, 28 CHARLIE CHAPLIN: FOUR ESSANAY COMEDIES, 1915: THE TRAMP THE BANK A WOMAN POLICE Aug. 15, 30, Sept. 14, 29 CHARLIE CHAPLIN: FOUR MUTUAL COMEDIES. 1916: (RKO Radio Pictures) THE FIREMAN THE VAGABOND NOTE: Names appearing in parentheseONE A.Ms .acknowledg e througTHEh RIN whosK e courtesy and cooperation the Film Library secured the films. .
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